The school announced recently that it is going to weigh all of its options when it comes to its conference affiliation, with many believing that the school plans on becoming the 14th member of the SEC. News that some Mizzou supporters are for, and others are against. Still, the only people I know of who have taken out an ad in a newspaper about it is the Kansas City Sports Commission. The group dedicated to sports in the Kansas City area put an open letter to Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton in the Kansas City Star.

Unfortunately for the Kansas City Sports Commission, I'm not sure how much impact this letter will actually have.

It's not as though Mizzou just up and decided it wanted to look around this week. It's been a decision that has no doubt been in the works for at least a year, as the school flirted with the Big Ten last year when Nebraska and Colorado left the Big 12, and has been mentioned with the SEC for months now.

While the school is saying that it's not ruling out remaining in the Big 12, I can't help but think it will only happen if both the SEC and Big Ten say no first.

Missouri has a decision to make about what conference they'll be in for the forseeable future after the school's Board of Curators gave their chancellor the ok to pursue any and all options. Head coach Gary Pinkel jumped on the Tim Brando Show to give his thoughts about realignment and talk about where his program's future lies.

Today has been a rather busy day in the world of college football realignment as the Big 12 has added TCU to its ranks and it appears it's the Big East's turn to be the conference teetering on the brink. So what better way to get caught up on everything that's happened and what's likely to happen next than with CBSSports.com's Brett McMurphy?

Brett got on the horn with Adam Aizer this afternoon to talk about the Big 12, the Big East and actual football as well.

That's the message sent by the league's Thursday afternoon announcement that its members have agreed to a equal-revenue sharing plan and a six-year "formal grant of television rights." The revenue distribution plan "becomes effective upon the formal assignment of rights by all institutions."

That assignment of rights isn't legally binding just yet--interim commissioner Chuck Neinas has been "authorized by the Board to immediately distribute legal documents for institutional execution." But with the grant of rights part of a "joint resolution" on the part of Texas and Oklahoma (who have each already publicly endorsed the conference's invitation to TCU), it seems unthinkable that either would back out of the arrangement now, or that any of the six other non-Missouri Big 12 schools wouldn't follow their lead.

To drive that point home, the adoption of the grant of rights and revenue plan was passed with an 8-0 unanimous vote by the Big 12 Board of Directors. As with the vote to issue TCU's invitation, however, Missouri abstained--another sign of the current rift between the conference and the Tigers.

The grant of rights is understood to gives the Big 12 control over any and all Tier 1 and Tier 2 television revenues generated by the schools which sign the agreement, in effect making them worthless from a TV perspective to any other conference that might wish to add them.

However, the proposal also addresses issues with the league's "third-tier" rights, which concern the much-discussed Longhorn Network and appears to include several concessions on Texas's part. According to the league's statement:

Conference bylaws will reflect that no member institution branded outlet will show high school games or highlights, noting that it is permissible pursuant to NCAA interpretation to use scores, standings and statistics of high school games; and, that additional games beyond the one member institution retained football game for telecast purposes must be approved by both institutions and both Conference telecast partners.

In other words, no filmed high school content, and any Big 12 games that appear on the LHN must have the approval of all parties involved.

“Today’s Big 12 meeting was the most positive conference meeting that we have had over the last two to three years," said Oklahoma president David Boren in a statement. "The reforms made and actions taken are a win for the entire conference. The actions taken at the meeting will help to strengthen the conference and increase its stability. Commissioner Chuck Neinas deserves great credit for his leadership in bringing this agreement together. I also appreciate the close partnership between OU and OSU in working for meaningful reforms. All of the actions taken are important and I was especially pleased that the conference will have its own bylaws to make sure that institutional branded networks will be prohibited from showing high school athletes in game or in highlight format in a way that could give any conference member a recruiting advantage.”

It might not be exactly what Texas wanted with the LHN, and the Big 12, period, may not be what the Sooners had in mind during their flirtation with the Pac-12. But with both schools now all-but locked in legal matrimony for the next six years and TCU set to officially come aboard any day now, they do have something both sides have been craving all along: conference stability.

The Big 12 made the announcement official on Thursday morning, saying that it has "authorized negotiations with TCU to become the conference's tenth member." The Big 12 also announced that Missouri did not participate in the vote on the advice of legal counsel.

"These discussions with the Big 12 have huge implications for TCU," said TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini. "It will allow us to return to old rivalries, something our fans and others have been advocating for years. As always, we must consider what's best for TCU and our student-athletes in this ever-changing landscape of collegiate athletics. We look forward to continuing these discussions with the Big 12."

"We’re proud that TCU has been invited to join the Big 12," said Texas AD DeLoss Dodds in a statement. "Their commitment to academics and success on the field make them an excellent fit. With a solid budget and strong financial support, they have been proactive at improving facilities. Their close proximity to all conference institutions makes for a comfortable travel situation."

Well, obviously, the Big 12 isn't sitting still anymore. Missouri may not have said that it's leaving just yet, but the writing is on the wall, and this time the Big 12 is being a lot more proactive. Something that Oklahoma President David Boren alluded to in his statement about the addition of TCU.

“TCU is an excellent choice as a new member of the conference," said Boren. "They bring strong athletics and academic credentials and were enthusiastically and unanimously supported by all of the members of the conference. There could be other additions in the future.”

Adding TCU would bring the Big 12 back to 10 schools without Texas A&M, but once Missouri leaves the Big 12 will need to find another replacement. Schools that have been mentioned the most often are BYU, Louisville, West Virginia and Cincinnati. Accoring to the Tulsa World's Dave Sittler, Louisville is the next school in line for an invite, but it's possible that three of those four get invites, as the conference has been kicking around the idea of expanding back to 12 schools.

According to a report from the Birmingham News, Missouri may not have the support needed to join the SEC after all.

The News's Jon Solomon reported Thursday morning that the "majority" of conference presidents and ADs would support the Tigers' application to become the league's 14th team, but that that majority "falls just short of the nine votes required" to give Missouri final approval.

According to Solomon's sources, those opposed to Missouri's membership have two points of contention. The first is that the SEC can simply "do better" than the Tigers. The other is that adding a team to the SEC West rather than East would disrupt the league's scheduling and rivalries.

The debate has reportedly led to a split between Auburn and Alabama, with the Crimson Tide opposed to Missouri's application and their in-state rivals in favor. Adding Missouri would almost certainly shift Auburn to the East division, restoring the Tigers' traditional annual rivalries with Tennessee and Florida, but potentially scuttling the Tide's yearly "Third Saturday in October" grudge match with the Volunteers. (With only one annual "cross-division" game on the schedule, Alabama couldn't play both Tennessee and Auburn with both in the East, at least not without a nine-game conference schedule.)

As noted by Solomon, Missouri's application won't be helped by an anonymous official telling the Associated Press Wednesday that the SEC would be the Tigers' second choice after the Big Ten. The public admission that Missouri might look elsewhere if the Big Ten asked them to surely won't sit well with a league that -- surely -- can find other partners that would be 100 percent committed.

So a move that looked like all but certain when the Mizzou Board of Curators voted to explore their options Tuesday now has another clear, visible hurdle in front of it. (At minimum, the SEC's plans for a 13-team 2012 season look that much closer to being set in stone.) The guess here remains that in the end, the allure of Missouri's Kansas City/St. Louis television markets will be too much for Mike Slive and the SEC to ignore (especially with the league angling for a new TV contract), and that the SEC's stability and overflowing coffers will be too much for even the Big Ten-focused Missouri officials to turn down.

But at the very least, Mizzou-to-the-SEC appears to be a deal that isn't done just yet.

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The SEC could be on the verge of welcoming Missouri as its 14th team. But for now, it's pressing ahead on its plans for the 2012-2013 season without the Tigers.

The Associated Press had already reported that the conference's athletic directors were meeting to discuss matters pertaining to Texas A&M's arrival as the league's lucky 13th team. Wednesday afternoon the league released its own statement on the content of those discussions, a statement which reads in full:

“Today's meeting of the SEC athletic directors was planned immediately following the announcement of Texas A&M joining the league. The purpose of the meeting was to integrate Texas A&M into the Southeastern Conference and plan for a 13-team schedule for all sports in 2012-13. The transition team from the SEC office made its initial report in this meeting to the athletics directors with the focus on scheduling and championship formats. The SEC is excited to have Texas A&M in the league and looks forward to having the Aggies compete in the SEC next year.”

The most important phrase in that statement? The "plan for a 13-team schedule in all sports" ... which does only echo previous statements by both Mike Sliveand other officials around the league that they were fully prepared to move forward for at least one year with only 13 teams, but is the first public confirmation that the conference is actually doing that moving forward.

Of course, until those schedules are released -- and maybe even for some time afterward -- there's still plenty of wiggle room for Missouri to get shoehorned into the 2012 SEC season. But if the clock hadn't already started ticking on the Tigers decision, Wednesday's meeting would seem to indicate it certainly has now.

On Tuesday Missouri told the Big 12 "I love you, but I think we should see other people." Which is generally code for "I've fallen for somebody else." Now, while Missouri hasn't officially left the Big 12 just yet, I don't think there are many people who think that the school is going to stick around once it is done looking at its options.

Now, unlike Texas or Oklahoma, losing Missouri wouldn't be a deathblow for the Big 12. Although that doesn't mean there isn't at least one school that would be a bit heartbroken to see the Tigers go, and that school would be Kansas. Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger released a statement on Tuesday night about Missouri's decision.

"We value our long-standing conference rivalry with Missouri," Zenger said in the release. "We believe the Midwest deserves a strong conference for student-athletes, fans and alumni, and it is our desire that Missouri will stay committed — as Kansas is — to the Big 12 Conference.”